Lubricating system



May 13, 1930. E. w. DAvls LUBRICATING SYSTEI iled sept. 2s; i925 @he my f@ @im/ffm- Patented May 13, 1930 UNITED STATES. mrt-:Nr OFFICE ERNEST W. nAvIs, OF OAK PARK, ILLINOIS, AssIGNoR To ALEMITR CORPORATION, F

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, .A CORPORATION or DELAWARE LUBRICATING- SYSTEM Application led September 23, 1925. Serial No. 58,130.

My invention relates to lubricating systems, and more specifically toan improvement in systems involving a portable high pressure compressor. v

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a lubricant compressor that will clear itself of air against high back pressures.

While almost any compressor can be cleared of air by operating it for a short time with the discharge tube Open, such periodical interruptions to clear a compressor are a loss of time and labor. Furthermore, unless a special receptacle is kept for accumulating the lubricant discharged while clearing the compressor, these interruptions will mean a loss of lubricant also. I

Where there is very little air entrapped in the lubricant supplied to the compressor in the first place, and this air is not permitted to accumulate, but forced on through under high pressure in small quantities as fast as received, the expansion ofthe contents of the discharge passages upon relief of pressure A may be reduced to a point where a check valve at the discharge end can be dispensed with, without the necessity for any action by the operator to relieve the pressure before uncoupling. f y

This makes it possible to employ coupling means that can readily be disconnected while high pressure obtains in the conduits, the subsequent expansion being not enough greater than the increased volume, due to outward movement of the sealing gaskety on uncoupling, to result in any appreciable, or objectional, loss of lubricant.

Another object is therefore to provide a lubricating system in which the compressor and discharge means can be uncoupled under 40 pressure, and coupled up again without loss of lubricant.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a view chiefly in section, of a compressor and discharge connections according to the invention.

'Figure 2 is an end elevation of the parts illustrated in Figure 1, and

Figure 3 is an'enlarged section of the terminal member in place on a fitting.

In the embodiment of the invention selected for illustration, the compressor comprises a base 10, a barrel 12 threaded thereon, and a cap 14. The high compression cylinder is a transverse bore occupied by the plunger 16, actuated by the lever 18. This lever is pivoted to the upper end of the plunger and connected by the drag-links 20 to an ear 22 on the base. A lateral port 24 provides an inlet to the high pressure cylinder, and another port l 26 provides an outlet. The lower edge of the port 26 is flush with the-bottom of the cylinder, which bottom is defined by the upper surface of a plug 28. The plunger 16 andv plug 28 are shaped to it each other at their ends. In the embodiment shown, both ends are flat.

It will be apparentthat the presence of suitable check valve means in or near port 26 will enable the plunger'16 to suck lubricant in through port 24 with considerable force at the end .of the up stroke and exhaust the contents of the barrel 12. I prefer to provide n the cap 14 with a rod 30 for guiding the fol so that the clearance within the geometrical contour of the cylinder is zero, but I have provided a lip 36 defining the port 26 and functioning as a seat for a ball check valve 38 held in place by a spring 40. The thickness of l the lip 36 is barely sufficient to prevent the valve 38 from making mechanical Contact with the plunger 16, which might injure the surface of the ball and impair the tightness of the valve. The abutment for the spring 40 is a shoulder on a second valve housing 42, containing a smaller check valve 44 seating on the opposite side of the same annular portion forming the shoulder. A short cylindrical tip 46 extends into the chamber thus formed to house the valve 38 and spring 40, and functions as' a stop to limit outward displacement of the valve 38. To maintain an open passage around the valve 38 after it engages the extension, the sides of the extension are slotted as at 48. The spring 50 for the second valve 44 may be provided with any suitable or appropriate abutment. I have illustrated it bearing against the end of the discharge tube 52, which is threaded into the housing 42. i

The discharge conduit I have illustrated, includes articulations for facilitating connection to fittings in various positions. I have illustrated a swivel joint at 54 connected with an arm 56 swiveled by a joint 58, lying at right angles to the swivel 54, to a second arm 60. The connections between the second arm 60 and the coupling member 62 include a pair of nipples 64 and 66, both flattened at 68 for convenience in screwing the projection 70 on one of them into a registering opening in the other. The tubular unit thus constituted, is swiveled at one end to the arm 60 by means of a flanged holding sleeve 72, and at theother end to the coupling member 62 by means of a similar sleeve 74. The

sleeve 74 carries a projecting nut 76 at one end for convenience in assembling it on the coupling member 62, but is threaded on the outside for supporting a housing sleeve 7 8 extending back outside the sleeve 7 2 to house and protect the nipples; 64 and 66. This outer sleeve 78 is provided with a corrugated outer surface forming a convenient grip for the operator in manipulating the coupling member 62. At the swivel in the sleeve 72, I provide the usual cup-shaped sealing leather 80 held in place by a spring 82.

In the coupling member 62, the single spring 84 normally holds the cup leather 86 against the end of the nipple 64, and the cup leather-88 against an annular shoulder 90 in the coupling member 62.

The particular coupling member illustrated' is designed to cooperate with the well known type of tting having transverse pins 92 projecting from the sides thereof.- Accordingly, it is formed with slots 94 to receive the pins. Each slot com rises an inclined portion 96 followed by a ottoni portion 98 having no inclination along the axis of the coupling member in either direction. It will be apparent that when the pins are in the portions 98, no amount of pressure in the lubricant will exert any turning tendency in either direction on the coupling member. The member can, therefore, be rotated when in Lthis position and under pressure, without stopping to relieve the pressure, and the pins' will slide down the inclined portions 96 and permit quick and complete separation of the parts.

It will be noted that this separation is accompanied'by an axial movement of the cup leather 88 from the position shown in Figure 3 down into contact with the shoulder at 90.

If the lubricant between this point and the check valves 38 and 42 is substantially free from entrapped air, the volumetric expansion of the contents of the tubes will not exceed the increased volume provided for by the axial movement of the cup leather 88, so that no lubricant will exude from the central aperture in the cup leather 88 upon uncou ling.

In the embodiment shown, this reedom from entrapped air isl assured first, bythe use of the follower 32, which keeps the lubricant in the barrel 12 substantially free from air; and second, by the relative volumes of the clearance spaces in the port 26 and the chamber 40. Thus, in the embodiment illustrated, the clearance space in port 26 may readily be made of the order of magnitude of one-one hundredth of the volume of the compression cylinder, so that even a cylinder full of air would, disregarding leakage, be compressed to one hundred atmospheres if the valve 38 did not open and let some of it out.

We next come to the chamber 40 which is formed as small as the size of the valve 38 will permit, and still leave clearance to let'l lio would be retained within the chamber 40, but I would pass on through the check valve 44 and proceed without an opportunity to remain and unite with other similar bubbles.

Without further elaboration the-foregoingl will so fully explain the ist of my invention, that others may, by app ying current knowledge, readily adapt the same for use under various conditions of service, without eliminating certain features which may properly be said to constitute the essential items of novelty involved, which items are intended to be defined and secured to me by the following claims.

I claim:

1. A 4lubricant dispensing couplingcomprising a barrel, a supply member, a two-piece nipple of relatively small bore swiveled at one end to said barrel and at the other end to said member, and a. sleeve carried by said barrel and housing said nipple. 2. A lubricant dispensing coupling comprising a barrel, a supply member, a nipple of relatively small bore swiveled at one end to said-barrel and at Jche other end to said member, and a sleeve carried by said barrel and housing said nipple.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my hand this 14th day of September, 1925. l ERNEST W.:DAVIS. 

